The rivalry between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov has been pretty heated this year. Before a fight was even announced between the MMA fighters, there had already been some violence - with McGregor throwing a dolly through a coach window carrying the Russian athlete back in April this year.
After that incident, which landed McGregor with charges of assault and criminal mischief, you might have thought that 2018 wasn't going to get any crazier for the two of them, but that wasn't the case. As the two trained up for UFC 229, where they faced off on Saturday, McGregor was his typical self - trading insults and testing Khabib's patient demeanour with some brutal verbal jabs.
Throughout it all, Nurmagomedov rarely stooped to the same level, so it came as quite the surprise when it was Khabib who crossed the line on the night of the fight. Winning the fight with a choke hold in the fourth round, you would assume that any anger Khabib held onto would have been released, but the fighting continued after the bout was officially over.
The victor leapt into the crowd, seemingly trying to attack a member of McGregor's team. Meanwhile, inside the octagon, McGregor appeared to be punched by one of Khabib's team, which would be completely over the line even if the Irishman wasn't in such a vulnerable state. Not a great look for Khabib and his team, even if they were on the winning side that night.
However, as it turns out - the pair of them were once on pretty good terms, which is hard to imagine after all that's gone down this year.
Back in 2014, the rivals seemed keen to be best buds, with nothing but kind words for each other on Twitter. In September that year, Khabib posted a photo of the two of them, right after McGregor's landmark victory against Dustin Poirier at UFC 178.
Imagine the two of them posing for a shot like this now? Yeah, not gonna happen.
On top of this, in the same month Khabib messaged him to say he was down for getting some of his new merchandise.
Soon, this conversation led to Conor inviting his future opponent to a training session with him.
As their intense press conference last month, and what happened on Saturday night, it's a little strange to see them on such good terms.
After the chaos that ensued in Las Vegas, UFC President Dana White refused to give Nurmagomedov his belt, as he believed that a presentation would have incited further violence in the crowd at the time. Although McGregor was assaulted, White said that he is thankfully unharmed - and confirmed that three of Khabib's crew have since been arrested:
"Three of his guys have been arrested, I believe they're being taken to jail right now," he said, before saying that he saw "a lot of bad stuff" that night:
“A lot of stuff that shouldn't happen, Khabib jumped over the cage and went after one of Conor's guys who I guess was trash talking him.
“I don't know what to say right now, I'm disgusted.”
Now, Khabib has made comments about the fight, explaining that the incident was incited by personal insults directed at him, his country, his father, and his religion.
The Nevada State Athletics Commission have reportedly withheld Khabib's payment, and are currently studying footage from the aftermath of the fight. There is also the possibility that the UFC suspends Khabib for his post-fight actions.